WWE/Impact News: Pete Dunne and Austin Aries set to face off for the first time ever

What’s the story?

The WWE UK Champion Pete Dunne and the newly crowned Impact Wrestling World Champion Austin Aries will face off, for the first time ever, in an indie promotion called Destiny on Sunday, 21 January. The announcement was made today on Twitter by the promotion itself.

In case you didn’t know…

Pete Dunne is considered one of the fastest rising stars from the British wrestling scene. At just 24 years of age, he delivered a Match of the Year Candidate against Tyler Bate at NXT Takeover Chicago and has also defeated current cruiserweight champion Enzo Amore during an episode of Monday Night Raw.

Austin Aries, on the other hand, has made his triumphant return to Impact Wrestling and defeated Eli Drake in under one minute, winning the World Championship once again. The matchup between these two is going to be spectacular.

The heart of the matter

The announcement of this match is pretty significant because, for the first time ever, a current WWE champion will square off against an Impact Wrestling title holder. Tickets for this event are already selling fast and fans on social media have already been pretty vocal about this encounter, which is shaping up to be the biggest indie surprise of the year.

What’s next?

Before this huge challenge, Pete Dunne will face longtime rival Will Osprey in an IPW ring on 17 January. It's going to be a WWE vs NJPW face-off because the "Aerial Assassin" won the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship in a spectacular Fatal Four Way match at Wrestle Kingdom 12.

Author’s take

I'm a huge fan of Pete Dunne and I think that he's going to have a brilliant 2018 with him possibly winning a major title on the main roster. Austin Aries has already proven to be excellent in the ring and has a chance to redeem himself after the stint in WWE that didn't turn out the way he had hoped it to be.